In 1988, a seminar was held at the Bauhaus Dessau as part of the UN-HABITAT programme, which dealt with issues of housing construction in 'developing countries.' Here, a prefabricated building system developed by GDR architects was presented, which was first applied in an educational and development centre of the African National Congress (ANC) in Dakawa, Tanzania.

The educational centres that emerged in rural Tanzania since the 1970s, with the support of international solidarity movements, were learning and living spaces for people who had fled the brutal regime of apartheid in South Africa. These centres were also unique places of transnational encounters between East and West during the Cold War.

Why education in particular represented the key to building a new democratic society is the focus of the publication.

Igor Bloch, PhD student, Vrije Universiteit Brussels / Ghent University. Joyce Lam, artist and filmmaker, Tokyo. Essi K. Lamberg, PhD student, University of Helsinki. Esther Mbibo, architect, Dar es Salaam. Nokubekezela Mchunu, PhD student, University College Dublin. Michalina Musielak, scientist and filmmaker, Leipzig. Lucas Rehnman, artist and scientist, Berlin. Jordan Rowe, author, curator, and scientist, London.